Death is near, and yet in Western society it is largely ignored until it happens. After the death of her son, author Katja Lewina had to face her grief and fears. In her latest book, she therefore advocates brutal openness. Topics in this episode: 00:00 How to deal with the death of your son? 08:55 How has your own diagnosis changed your life? 15:19 How do you explain to a child that they are terminally ill? 18:51 How do families process trauma? 24:50 How important is faith to you? 27:30 How does grief change your life? 32:49 What do you regret at the end of your life? 43:28 Is the "Longevity" movement the solution? 48:13 How can you properly give and find comfort? It is perhaps the worst thing that can happen to a parent: the death of your own child. This is exactly what happened to author Katja Lewina. She lost her seven-year-old son completely unexpectedly, from one day to the next. For three years, she and her family have lived with this never-ending grief. Immediately afterwards, she received a shocking diagnosis herself: a life-threatening and incurable heart condition, which she only survived thanks to an implanted defibrillator. In her book "What is forever - about living with finitude", the 40-year-old author talks about what it is like when life suddenly seems to crumble in your hands, about the lack of mourning rituals and about how these strokes of fate changed her. Olivia Röllin talks to the author about the frenzy of activity in the face of our finitude, fantasies of immortality and whether death can give meaning to our lives. Sternstunde Religion from October 13th, 2024 ____________________ ✨ New conversations with exciting guests every week Program managers: ???? Director: Christine Rauschmeier, Editors: Maurice Köpfli, Martina Kuhn, Jolanda Fazzone, Production: Julia Bendlin, Management: Judith Hardegger SRF 2024 ____________________ Subscribe now to SRF Kultur Sternstunden on YouTube ????https://www.youtube.com/srfkultur?sub... More culture on Facebook ???? / srfkultur More culture on Instagram ???? / ​​srfkultur More culture on srf.ch ???? https://www.srf.ch/kultur ____________________ The big questions of life, discussed in conversation with people who move, understand, believe and doubt. That is our approach. We conduct social debates and profound conversations that entertain and inspire. Religion can be many things and it reaches deep into the middle of society. From Zen meditation to the abuse of power in the church, from football fan cults to the gender debate: we approach the broad topic of religion, faith and spirituality with critical distance. ____________________ Moderation: Olivia Röllin: / oliviaroellin Ahmad Milad Karimi: / donkarimi ____________________ Social Media Netiquette from SRF: ► https://www.srf.ch/social-netiquette #SRFCulture #SRFCultureSternstunden #SRFSternstunde #Religion #Mourning #Death #SRF #Culture